All I Want for Christmas
by chicabonita51983
Summary: One shot - AU/AH Late one night, after her first dinner party, Bella dances around fantasizing about the one gift that wants this Christmas.


**All I Want for Christmas**

"Thanks for the fabulous dinner, Bella," Alice commented as she gave me a big hug.

"Everything was delicious," Jasper commented as he gave me a quick hug.

Emmett was next as he gave me a big bear hug. "Thank you for making enough for me. You know exactly how much it takes to feed me."

Rosalie rolled her eyes as she hugged me next. "Yeah, a big dump truck full. Thanks Bella."

"No problem," I smiled as I waved good-bye to them and turned to the last person that remained in my foyer.

"Bella, that was absolutely delectable. I think you need to host some more dinner parties in the future," Edward gave me a crooked smile as he wrapped his scarf around his neck. "Or maybe you can just cook for me everyday."

"Right," I rolled my eyes. "And what do I get in return?"

My friend smirked, "A massage?"

_A massage where, exactly? _"Tempting, but I think I have to pass on that."

"Whatever you want, Bella."

_Whatever I want? Really?_

Edward leaned closer to touch my forearm as he leaned forward to kiss me on my cheek. "Buenas noches, Bella."

"Good night, Edward."

I sighed as I closed the front door after him. Pathetic. I was absolutely pathetic. I have been friends with Edward for ten years. Ten whole years, and suddenly when I turned twenty, I decided that I wanted to fall helpless in love with him. So five years later, I was still in the same situation.

I don't know how it happened. Just one day I looked in his eyes and I knew I wanted to be with him always.

Like I said: pathetic.

I constantly argued with myself trying to decide whether or not I should tell him. On one hand, I knew that my feelings would constantly bother me until I got them off my chest and I knew what he thought of me. But on the other hand, he was incredibly out of my league. He was extremely handsome, intelligent, and came from a rich family. Not to mention he was ready to graduate from med school.

I was plain-looking, semi-intelligent and the daughter of a police chief. I was a staff reporter on a measly local newspaper that paid me peanuts for all the overtime I had to put in to my job.

Not to mention, if he didn't reciprocate my feelings, things could become extremely tense between us. Seeing as we socialized with the same group of people, the awkwardness could definitely spread to everybody else.

No, I definitely needed to keep my feelings to myself.

I sighed inwardly as I glanced at all the dishes around me and tried to decide whether or not I should clean them up now or wait until the morning. I had finally moved into my own apartment and had everything unpacked and put away, as well as had decorated my new home for Christmas, so I decided to have my first ever dinner party. Surprisingly, it was a success, besides the mess it made for me to clean up. Rose and Alice had offered to help, but I didn't want my guests to clean up after something I had planned for them to enjoy.

As my Christmas music playlist continued to play in the background, I made the unconscious decision to clean up before I went to bed. I didn't want to have to wake up to the need to clean.

As I began gathering the dishes, one of my favorite original Christmas songs began to play, and I smiled as it brought me back to my middle-school years when it first came out.

_I don't want a lot for Christmas_

_There is just one thing I need_

_I don't care about the presents_

_Underneath the Christmas tree_

_I just want you for my own_

_More than you could ever know_

_Make my wish come true_

_All I want for Christmas is you_

You know, before Mariah Carey lost her clothes in her divorce.

I turned up the volume and began to sing off-key with her. I never sang or danced in front of people, even my close friends. It was too embarrassing. But when I was alone, I let loose. It was the only time that I could do this without turning beet-red like a tomato.

As the song picked up, I started swinging my hips to dance along. The song was my anthem every time I had an unrequited love. Although I generally enjoyed Christmas, there was always a part of me that yearned for somebody special to spend it with. Somebody other than friends and family, unless that special someone became family by the rites of marriage.

So this year, as it was the past five, the subject of yearning was Edward Cullen.

I wasn't one to feel self-pity, but it worsened a little this year. Alice and Jasper had gotten married this year and had joined the ranks of Rosalie and Emmett who had been married for the past three Christmases. That meant that Edward and I were the last two single people in the group.

And we weren't even a couple.

Sometimes life was so unfair.

As I continued dancing and singing my way through the dining room into the kitchen, I grabbed an apron to cover my good clothes and pulled my hair out of my face. There was no need to mess myself up before bed.

Not like anyone would see me.

I quickly loaded the dishwasher in record time and put it on. Thank God for dishwashers. At Charlie's I had to wash everything by hand. Now I let a little machine do all the work.

I figured with all the dishes in the washer all the pots and pans could wait until the morning. So I decided to step up my singing and dancing routine and grabbed a dish brush and held it up to my mouth like a microphone.

Acting like a diva that I definitely was not, I twirled around the kitchen singing along with the amazing voice of Mariah Carey. In my head I pictured Edward standing near my Christmas tree with a big red bow around his chest and almost burst out laughing at the imagine in my imagination.

And then I pictured us cuddling near the fireplace that I did not have in my apartment. But that's okay, in my fantasies my apartment could have any feature it wanted.

As the bridge began I stopped twirling and acted overdramatically as I put my hand to my forehead and acted as if I really was a famous singer on stage.

_All the lights are shining_

_So brightly everywhere_

_And the sound of childrens'_

_Laughter fills the air_

_And everyone is singing_

_I hear those sleigh bells ringing_

_Santa won't you bring me_

_The one I really need_

_Won't you please bring my baby to me, quickly_

Have I mentioned how pathetic I was yet?

As the bridge ended and went back into the chorus, I looked up at the doorway that led to the dining room and let out a scream as the brush fell from my hand.

There in the doorway, the man of my fantasies was leaning against the frame with the sexiest half smile on his face.

"You know, you shouldn't leave your door unlocked. For a young lady like yourself living alone, it could be very dangerous."

"What are you doing here?" I asked, not knowing what else to say.

He smirked, "Enjoying a very entertaining performance, if I do say so myself."

I could feel all the blood rush to my face before I mumbled, "Nobody was every supposed to see me do that."

"Why not? It's cute."

I think my face turned even a deeper shade of red. I then realized he never asked my first question. "What are you doing here, Edward?" I let my frustration through the tone of my voice.

"I forgot my scarf."

I narrowed my eyes. "No you didn't. I saw you put it around your neck."

He frowned. "Oh."

I put my hands on my hips. "Edward Anthony Cullen, tell me the truth."

"Well, uh… I… um…" I never saw Edward at a loss of words in my life. It actually put me in an awkward situation.

"Edward…"

"Can you come here please?" He asked, reaching out his hand.

"Okaaaay," I said the word slowly as I was trying to figure out what was wrong with my friend. As soon as I was close enough, he grabbed my hand and pulled me close enough that I was almost pressed against his body.

My breathing hitched. He never had done this before.

"Edward?" I asked again, looking up at him.

His arm snaked around my waist and pulled me even closer. I was barely breathing now.

"Do you know where we are standing, Bella?"

I shook my head, unable to put any sounds into a coherent sentence.

"Under the mistletoe."

I gulped. "Oh."

"Can I do something?"

"Um," I squeaked, still not being able to say anything.

Without a word, I watched as he leaned down towards my face. In reaction, I closed my eyes, waiting for his lips to touch mine. When they finally touched in a delicate kiss, sparks flew through my body.

As his lips moved with mine, it wasn't exactly the most passionate kiss, but the intensity of the feelings conveyed caused my knees to buckle as I grabbed on to him in fear of falling in a pile of mush at his feet.

As he pulled away, he nuzzled my nose with his own.

"Do you know how long I wanted to do that?"

Still without the ability to speak, I shook my head.

"Ten years."

_Ten years? He wanted to do that for ten years?_

Instead of putting those thoughts into words, I decided to go the more… rude route. "Wow, you're even more pathetic than me."

Instantly, his face showed an expression of hurt and his arms loosened around my waist, but quickly, I tightened my hold around his neck. "No, Edward, I didn't mean it like that."

"Then how exactly did you mean it?"

_Uh oh. His voice sounded angry._

"I mean, why didn't you tell me? You could have saved me a lot of heartache, you know."

"Oh," he frowned. "For how long?"

"Five years."

He chuckled, "Aren't we a couple of fools then?"

I smiled, "No kidding."

"Well, it's better late than never, then."

I bit my lower lip and smiled. "Can we do that again?"

"What? Kiss?" He raised his eyebrow.

I nodded.

"Whatever you want, Bella," he repeated his words from earlier before leaning down to touch his lips to mine again for the second of many times that evening.

I woke up to the unusual feeling of sunshine warming my back; well warming as much as December sunshine could.

Before opening my eyes, I relished in the dream I had the night before. I dreamt that Edward had walked in on me while singing and dancing to my Christmas anthem before declaring his love for me under the mistletoe.

Sighing, I cuddled back into the pillow, willing for sleep to come again, but the sound of soft laughter startled me.

Opening my eyes, I stared into the green eyes of Edward.

"Morning, sleepyhead."

It wasn't a dream.

Suddenly it all came back to me, so clearly that it couldn't be anything but real.

"What are you laughing at?" I asked sleepily as I snuggled closer to his warm body.

"I was just remembering a certain performance from last night," he smirked.

Oh, why couldn't that part have been a dream?

I groaned, covering my face with my hands, but Edward's strong hands quickly pried them away from my head so he could look at me.

"Don't hide from me. I liked it…" he frowned, "only, of course, if there was certain meaning behind it."

"Like what?"

"I don't know," he sighed as he leaned down to nuzzle my hair. "Like maybe the title of the song?"

"Mmm," I moaned in contentment. "All I want for Christmas is you."

He mimicked my sigh as he pulled me closer. "Yeah, like all I want for Christmas is you."


End file.
